Section 4: Lian Zhan

In the early morning of the next day, the Houjin Eight Banner Army was in an endless stream before and after, and I don't know how many of them, but it can be seen that the wind is like a tide, and the sword and halberd are like a forest. At noon, it passed through the unguarded pass between Shoushan and Luofeng Mountain, and the soldiers were far away from the outskirts of Ningyuan.

"Great Khan, five miles away is Ningyuan City. A Eight Banner general said to the felt hat general next to him. The big man in the felt hat is the great Yingming Khan Nurhachi of the Later Jin.

Nurhachi took off his bright red cloak, shook the snow on his head, and said lightly: "Pass my general order, set up camp on the spot, and lead 30,000 people to cross the mountain and sea road with Tang Gu, and set up camp." Ordered Abatai to set up a large camp of our army in the north of the city. "Tang Gu and Abatai are the fourth and seventh sons of Nurhachi, respectively. The generals of the Eight Banners promised.

"Shi Xian is detained in Beijing, Sun Chengzong is gone, Gao Di is incompetent, and my Dajin is like entering a no-man's land. It is only necessary to break through Ningqian Road and seize Shanhaiguan just around the corner. He thought, laughing out loud.

"Hu Yan is nothing. ”

"Admiral, Great Khan, please command!" a general behind him replied.

"You put the Han people captured along the road into Ningyuan City, and announce that the guards of Ningyuan City will surrender, and I can spare him from dying. He said, a mysterious smile on his face.

"Subordinates obey!"

After the cool breeze passed, Nurhachi put on his red cloak again, he looked at his military appearance, and suddenly felt that he was twenty years younger, and he was still the invincible and invincible emperor.

"Newspaper! There are more than 100 Han people in the city who want to enter the city, please make a decision on Lord Yuan. ”

Yuan Chonghuan pondered undecided, and said to Cheng Weiao: "My lord, the Houjin soldiers invaded our city, not all of them fought with the power of the army, but also because the spies earned the gate of my city. These 100 Han people must be Houjin spies and cannot be put in. ”

The garrison He Kegang said: "I know that this is wrong, I have seen it, but they are my Han compatriots, and they also speak Chinese, and they are by no means treacherous. ”

Cheng Wei said: "General He, have you ever heard of the indiscriminate refill? It's just that this group of Han people is mixed with some half-Jurchens and mixed into the city, and it is not easy for us to notice." It is better to kill a hundred by mistake than to let one go. ”

"No, you can't. Cheng Weiao looked at it and saw that it was Yang Ling, and said unhappily: "Why, Brother Yang is familiar with ancient and modern history, so he must recognize what Cheng said, how can there be different words?"

Yang Ling said: "Cheng Tong knows what he is worried about, which is not unreasonable, but the reason why I Ning Qiandao did not retreat into Shanhaiguan is to save the border people from danger and uphold justice in the world." At this moment, hundreds of my compatriots are outside, but our army refuses to accept them. Isn't it a big mistake to miss the lives of hundreds of people because of one or two spies?"

Yuan Chonghuan said: "Brother Yang is right. Open the door, but be prepared. Cheng Tongzhi asked you to check the people who came, and if there was any suspicion, isolate them first. General He and General Zu, please transfer the army up and down the city tower, in case the Houjin Iron Cavalry drives my people to win my city gate. "Cheng Weiao, He Kegang, and Zu Dashou received their orders.

"Brother Yang, go up to the city tower with me. ”

Yuan Chonghuan held Yang Ling's hand, and the two went up to the city tower, and listened to the people outside the city say: "The Jurchen Khan said that he led an army of 200,000 to attack Ningyuan City, and the city was broken in an instant, please surrender quickly and not lose the position of marquis." Zu Dashou and other military horses were in place, and Cheng Weiao opened the city gate to investigate. Yang Ling savored Nurhachi's meaning: "He knows that I Ning Qiandao refuses to withdraw the army and wants to fight to the death, so why should he send the people to persuade him to surrender and do such a useless act?"

Yuan Chonghuan looked at the people under the city carefully, and suddenly said: "There are hundreds of people in the city, there must be spies." Before the others could reply, a soldier had already come to report, and Yuan Chonghuan did not look back and said: "Let them reply to Nurhachi, and ask him why he has increased the number of soldiers? The two cities of Ning and Jin are the places that the Houjin does not want, and I will restore them, and I will defend them to the death, how can I surrender! The Great Khan said that there were 200,000 soldiers, and the imaginary number was also 130,000, how could I be intimidated by your Great Khan!? Yuan Chonghuan lay alone in the lonely city, and he was the head of the captive!"

After the soldiers left, Yuan Chonghuan ordered his family Luo Lidao: "You ordered Sun Yuanhua and Peng Qigu to let them fire at the Nurhachi camp." Everyone was puzzled and asked. Yuan Chonghuan said: "If Nurhachi wants to persuade him to surrender, he can just send an envoy, and there is no need to drive the people. Therefore, it is said that the descent is false, and the implantation of spies is true. Now the city is besieged, and the enemy soldiers are coming, and the spirit is flourishing. I will attack it with artillery fire, and first defeat its majesty before I can hold on. The crowd was convinced.

Yuan Chonghuan shook his head secretly and said, "Tomorrow will be a bloody battle." As soon as his words fell, the two generals Sun and Peng also arrived, and the red-coated cannon was lit at the moment, and the cannon roared in an instant, killing more than 100 golden soldiers immediately.

Nurhachi was furious, but he did not dare to stay in this camp, and moved the camp to the west of the city. Ordered to prepare war equipment, attack Ningyuan the next day, break the city, and slaughter all the soldiers and civilians.

The twenty-fourth day of the first month. At dawn of Tianfu, I could hear the thunder of drums and horns outside the city, and the Houjin army came to attack. Ningyuan City was inspected by Yuan Chonghuan and the chief soldier of the city, Man Guidu, led the soldiers and horses to guard the four gates. Everyone climbed the city to look, and saw that the golden soldiers were all over the mountains, like ants gathering, endlessly, and there was no end in sight. Nurhachi's army had besieged Ningqian Road and Daling River several times, but most of them were based on surprise attacks, but there were no city battles. The magnificence of the army and the strength of the troops this time are truly unprecedented.

The Houjin army pushed the cart, carried the hook ladder, and the foot cavalry swarmed up, and ten thousand arrows fired a salvo at the city tower. Yuan Chonghuan had already prepared, no matter how the enemy army used bows and arrows, strong crossbows, and stone and cloud ladders, the Ming soldiers defending the city were condescending, or with rockets or sasswood, they all cracked one by one. But I saw that on the female wall of the city tower, the arrows were like rain, the hanging cards were like hedgehog skins, and the blood was floating like snow.

The Ming army relied on the strong city to defend it, and was not afraid of the cavalry under the city, but also able to dodge arrow shots, occupying an advantage in geography. However, the Houjin army is large, and brave, dare to die fearlessly, the two sides fought until the afternoon, and then to the sunset of the West Mountain, the Houjin army has lost more than 7,000 people, but the Wu from the front one after another, bravely attacked.

Nurhachi concentrated his forces and ordered a storming of the southwest corner of Ningyuan City. Yuan Chonghuan immediately ordered the general Zuo Fu to lead the troops to hold on, and Zu Dashou led the army to help. In addition to the 20,000 elite soldiers in Ningyuan City, there are still countless people, and everyone knows that the Jurchen Khan has issued a massacre order, and no one can be spared once the city is broken. Women, children, the old and the weak also carry soil and stones, and fight against strong enemies. For a while, the sound of killing inside and outside the city shook the ground, the drums and horns rumbled in front of the army, and the feathered arrows in the air came and went like locusts.

The Ming army struck hard with arrows, sasswood, and iron guns. Sun Yuanhua and Peng Qigu commanded the ignition of the red-coated cannons, and after the bombardment of the Houjin soldiers, the pigtail army suffered heavy casualties, and after temporarily retreating, they moved to attack Nancheng. At this time, the sky was already turning and the sun was setting, and the scenery was magnificent, and it was the same color as blood.

Yang Ling had already joined the soldiers, and his longbow was shot repeatedly, killing more than 100 Jin soldiers. He is equipped with martial arts, and he can fight alone more than ordinary soldiers, but above the military array, martial arts alone are far from enough. He was secretly hating his lack of ability, and when he looked back, he saw Yuan Chonghuan holding a long sword on top of the city tower, commanding the superintendent, just like his father, the same heroic posture, the same righteous awe-inspiring! In a trance, his father was slowly walking down from the clouds and attached to the body of the uniformed general, and for a while, he was him, and he was him.

Whether it's Yue Wumu or Yu Zhongsu, but he's just Yuan Chonghuan, he's just Yang Ling.

Suddenly, he Kegang, the general of the garrison, said happily: "The Tartar soldiers have retreated!" Before his words fell, he was immediately overshadowed by the voice of the golden soldiers under the city: "Long live, long live, long live!" The voice was surging from far and near, like a river tide, and finally 130,000 people shouted in unison, which was really like the sky falling apart. I saw that the soldiers in the formation would give way to a road, and a nine-strong Daxu galloped out, with the words "Great Wise Khan" written on it, and then a hundred iron horsemen came to defend it, and it was the pro-army of the Houjin Great Khan Nurhachi, the Jurchen Great Khan finally couldn't hold it back, and the battle came.

The morale of the Houjin army was greatly boosted, the banners of the soldiers everywhere were waved, and the teams under the city were divided to the left and right, and in a moment more than 10,000 people rushed up to attack the northwest two gates. It was the most elite force that Nurhachi had not dispatched so far. This group of people are all frequent visitors to the battlefield, and everyone is bloodthirsty and demonic, killing people like hemp, and treating death as home. At this moment, it was even more necessary to establish meritorious deeds in front of the Great Khan, and suddenly hundreds of ladders were erected one after another, and the soldiers and generals fought desperately to die and pushed them in.

The Houjin general Wu Nag was proficient in the art of war, and said that Nurha Equator: "Great Khan, the slave has observed for a long time, and saw that the two firepower in the corner of this city are thin, which can make more than a thousand warriors close to the city. "Nurhachi is good. Wu Nag then commanded his horses to dig the city where the fire was weak between the two towers in the corner. Yuan Chonghuan urgently ordered the defenders to gather crossbows and crossbows to attack, originally Peng Qigu commanded the east and north cannons, and Luo Li commanded the west and south cannons, but at this moment the north gate was in crisis, Sun Yuanhua transferred two red-clothed cannons to bombard the siege enemy. The red-coated cannon was so powerful that it was fired from the city, and the place where the cannonballs hit it was eroded for miles. However, even so, the artillery was not able to fire continuously after a long interval. The Houjin soldiers were not afraid of death, withstood artillery fire, braved the bitter cold, followed one after another, crashed the city with a chariot, and chiseled the wall with a big axe. It didn't take long to dig up the frozen soil city, and three or four big holes were dug out, and Ningyuan City was seriously threatened, which can be described as life and death!

The Ming army was helpless and gradually became cowardly. Yuan Chonghuan raised his arms and shouted: "Soldiers, the Tartars have been attacking for a long time, and they are already at the end of the crossbow, and whoever can survive to the end will be the winner! Today, he came in person, and asked him to see the ability of our Ming men! Who still doesn't fight to the death!?" Although he tried his best, he was just an ordinary scribe after all, and he lacked energy, and it was difficult to clearly convey it in the noise of the crowd. Yang Ling threw away the longbow, held the long sword and engaged the Jin soldiers who climbed the tower, he kicked down the cloud ladder, and then used his internal strength, howled, and repeated Yuan Chonghuan's words again, and everyone heard it clearly, and then Man Gui, He Kegang, Zu Dashou and other generals also passed on the generals.

The Ming soldiers at the head of the city fought for a day, they were already tired, and suddenly heard Yang Ling shouting, and they were all in high spirits, and they all thought: "Houjin Tartar has bullied us for too long, and we will not die at this time, and when they enter the city, we will also die, it is better to fight with them, and let them know that our Ming men are by no means easy to bully!" The corpses gradually piled up and down the city tower, although the courage of the Ming army was inferior to that of the Houjin soldiers, but at this moment, they fought hard, and they did not let it go at all. At the beginning, 100 people were unyielding, then 10,000 people were indomitable, and then the people in the city were bent on fighting to the death. The heralds around Nurhachi rode fast horses and galloped forward, as if they could not capture the city and would not withdraw their troops.

The twilight was vast, and the torches inside and outside the city were still as bright as day.

Yuan Chonghuan took the lead, but he didn't know that the crossbow shot from under the city hit him in the arm. The officers hurriedly helped him to wrap his wounds, and Yuan Chonghuan pushed everyone away and said loudly: "The man is a horse leather shroud, a little injury is not enough, return to his position quickly!" He tore his robe, wrapped his wounds, and rushed to the head of the city. The soldiers were ashamed and ashamed, and they fought hard to be the first, and said in unison: "We should serve our lives!"

Seeing that the Jin soldiers still did not retreat, and the artillery could not directly hit the city, Jin Qiliang said loudly: "You bring reeds and quilts, and wrap them in gunpowder for me!" The gunners were puzzled, but still did as they said. I saw Jin Qiliang tie the gunpowder bag to himself, pour diesel oil, hold a torch, rush to the city, set himself on fire and jumped. Everyone was stunned, only to hear a loud noise under the city, and dozens of golden soldiers and siege equipment were all blown up.

Yuan Chonghuan sighed: "A scholar who is sentenced to sacrifice his life and martyrdom should be regarded as 'ten thousand enemies'!"

Jin Bing was discouraged and retreated slightly. In an instant, the city was dug again. The Ming army sent down the fire and torch disputes, hung down the flames with iron cables and burned them, and even the dead soldiers followed the example of Jin Tongju and committed suicide as bombs. The corpses under the city are piled up like mountains, and the blood in the four fields is like a river, and the broken halberds are broken, and the dead horses break the flags, and there are countless counts. The battle lasted from morning to night, and the casualties on both sides were extremely heavy, and the victory and defeat were indecisive, and finally Nurhachi withdrew his army in anger and ended with the night.

Although the Ming army temporarily repelled Houjin, they were also exhausted, and the dead soldiers had not yet had time to count, and the city was already crying. Yuan Chonghuan and Yang Ling personally visited the wounded soldiers and comforted their soldiers. The soldiers were all moved when they saw that the commander was resting.

Yuan Chonghuan and the others only rested for more than an hour at night, and the day was peaceful, so they heard the drums outside the city rise again, and the small colonel came to report that the 30,000-strong Jin soldiers gathered outside the city to prepare for the siege. Everyone exclaimed, "What...... Why did they just go back and come back again? Don't they need to rest?"

Yuan Chonghuan was as calm as ever, as if he had expected it a long time ago. "Nurhachi used soldiers, fast, urgent, ruthless, and steady, and it really lived up to his reputation. As soon as he slapped the table: "Everyone cheer up and go to the city to defend against the enemy!" and immediately got up and went to the city to lead the whole army.

On this day, the Houjin soldiers took the palace army as the main force of the attack, and still took a fierce attack on Ningyuan City. The Ming army continued to defend with red-coated artillery, and the Houjin soldiers fought a battle a few days ago, and countless casualties were killed and wounded under the artillery, so they were afraid to move forward. The Houjin generals drove the troops to urge the soldiers, but Nurhachi himself did not arrive, and the combat strength of the armies was sharply reduced, although they attacked from morning to night, they returned in vain, but lost more than 2,500 people, including several generals, 12 centurions, countless wounded, and countless attacking tools were burned.

Nurhachi had no choice but to retreat to the Longgong Temple on the southwest side of Ningyuan City and set up camp.